Ernest J. King

Ernest King

Fleet Admiral Ernest Joseph King (November 23, 1878 – June 25, 1956) was Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations (COMINCH-CNO) during World War II. As CNO, he directed the United States Navy's operations, planning, and administration and was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the superior of all other admirals, such as Chester Nimitz, and served under Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and, later, James Forrestal.

Career

King was born in Lorain, Ohio. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy from 1897 until 1901. During that period, he also served on the USS San Francisco during the Spanish American War.

Before World War I he served in the surface fleet. From 1919 to 1925, he held several posts associated with submarine operations.

In 1926, he took command of the aircraft tender USS Wright with additional duties as Senior Aide on the Staff of Commander Air Squadrons, Atlantic Fleet. In January 1927 he began flying lessons. He was designated Naval Aviator 3368 in May 1927, when he resumed command of Wright. He commanded Wright until 1929 (with a brief interlude commanding the salvage operations of USS S-4, when he was assigned command of the Naval Air Station, Norfolk, Virginia. In June 1930, he became captain of the carrier USS Lexington which he commanded for the next two years. In 1932 he attended the Naval War College. In 1933, he was promoted to Rear Admiral, and, as a promoter of air warfare, was appointed Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics. From 1936 until 1940, he commanded various aircraft forces. He was promoted to Vice Admiral in 1938.

In 1940, he served on the General Board. He was promoted to Admiral in February 1941 and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. On 30 December 1941 he became Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet. On 18 March 1942, he was appointed Chief of Naval Operations, relieving Admiral Stark. He is the only person to hold this combined command. On 17 December 1944 he was promoted to the newly created rank of Fleet Admiral. He retired on December 15, 1945.

Dates of rank

• Naval Cadet: 1897
• Passed Midshipman: 1901
• Ensign: June 7, 1903
• Lieutenant Junior Grade: Not Held
• Lieutenant: June 7, 1906
• Lieutenant Commander: July 1, 1913
• Commander: July 1, 1917
• Captain: September 21, 1918
• Commodore: Not Held
• Rear Admiral: November 1, 1933
• Vice Admiral: January 29, 1938
• Admiral: February 1, 1941
• Fleet Admiral: December 17, 1944

King never held the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade although, for administrative reasons, his service record annotates his promotion to Lieutenant, and Lieutenant J.G., on the same day.

Awards and decorations

• Navy Cross
• Navy Distinguished Service Medal (w/two gold stars)
• Spanish Campaign Medal
• Sampson Medal
• Mexican Service Medal
• World War I Victory Medal (w/Atlantic Fleet campaign clasp)
• American Defense Service Medal (w/Atlantic Device)
• American Campaign Medal
• World War II Victory Medal
• National Defense Service Medal

King was also the recipient of several foreign awards and decorations.

Analysis

King was intelligent and extremely capable. Some consider him to have been one of the greatest admirals of the 20th century; others, however, point out that he never commanded ships or fleets at sea in war time. He was considered rude and abrasive; as a result, King was loathed by many officers with whom he served.

He was... perhaps the most disliked Allied leader of World War II. Only British Field Marshal Montgomery may have had more enemies... King also loved parties and often drank to excess. Apparently, he reserved his charm for the wives of fellow naval officers. On the job, he "seemed always to be angry or annoyed." (John Ray Skates, The Invasion of Japan, ISBN 0-87249-972-3).

There was a tongue-in-cheek remark carried about by Naval personnel at the time that "Admiral King was the most even-tempered person in the United States Navy: He was angry 100% of the time!"
Roosevelt once described King as "... a man who shaves with a blow torch".

Someone once asked Admiral King if it was he who said, "When they get in trouble they send for the sons of bitches." He replied that he was not -- but that he would have said it if he had thought of it.

At the start of US involvement in World War II King made the decision not to request blackouts on the eastern seaboard and not to convoy ships. Instead of convoys, King had the U.S Navy and Coast Guard go out on regular patrols searching for submarines; because these patrols occurred on a regular schedule, the U-boats learned the schedule, submerged when the patrols were out and came out when the patrols were in port. Leaving the lights on had the effect of illuminating merchant ships to the U-Boats. As a result of these policies the attacks by the German U-boats on U.S. coastal shipping during the Second Battle of the Atlantic became known by German crews as the "second happy time". It was not until convoys were introduced in May 1942 that the "second happy time" came to an end, with the loss of seven U-boats. This proved that King's initial decision in this matter was flawed. Many blame King's Anglophobia for these decisions as the convoys and turning off the city's lights were British ideas, and King was loath to have his much-beloved U.S Navy adopt any ideas from the Royal Navy.

For Admiral King's relations with the US Coast Guard Auxillary, the Corsair Fleet. [1]

Of all the Joint Chiefs of Staff, King was absolutely the most dedicated to immediate victory in the Pacific, and the greatest critic of the "Europe first" strategy. He constantly argued that resources should be diverted to the Pacific War, hence his reputation as an anglophobe.

Following Japan's defeat at the Battle of Midway, while the other Joint Chiefs urged that the Allies should fight a holding action to concentrate resources against Germany, King advocated the invasion of Guadalcanal. He won the argument, and the invasion went ahead. It was ultimately successful, and was the first time the Japanese lost ground during the War.

General Hastings Ismay, chief of staff to Winston Churchill, described King as:

"tough as nails and carried himself as stiffly as a poker. He was blunt and stand-offish, almost to the point of rudeness. At the start, he was intolerant and suspicious of all things British, especially the Royal Navy; but he was almost equally intolerant and suspicious of the American Army. War against Japan was the problem to which he had devoted the study of a lifetime, and he resented the idea of American resources being used for any other purpose than to destroy Japanese. He mistrusted Churchill's powers of advocacy, and was apprehensive that he would wheedle President Roosevelt into neglecting the war in the Pacific."

Other

The USS ''King (DL-10)'' was named in his honor. A major high school in his hometown of Lorain, Ohio also bears his name -- Admiral King High School. Also named after him is the Department of Defense high school on Sasebo Naval Base, in Japan.

External links

• Ernest King biography on Official US Navy website
• -- an article documenting the "sons of bitches" quote and other relevant facts